Grads get rude surprise from job market

Updated 10:00 pm, Sunday, July 6, 2003

When the University of Washington's electrical engineering department held its graduation ceremony, said David Byman, only a handful of the 2003 graduates had work.

"That opened my eyes that maybe it's not so easy to find a job right now," he said.

So Byman, who will graduate in August, was early to arrive at a recent career fair on the UW campus.

Leaning against the door jamb at the entrance to the hall where business representatives were spreading details of their companies across table tops, 21-year-old Byman said that given the state of the economy, he'll probably have to "look hard and be willing to move" to get his first job. And that job will likely not be the one he wants most.

Jordan Larner, 22, from Vancouver, Wash., said she's handed out 20 résumés since graduating this spring form the UW with a speech and communication degree.

She's yet to land work.

"It's ... a job looking for a job," she said. "I expected that once you went to college, it would kind of happen, you'd get a job. ... I'm worried about not starting a career yet. I've always had just such high expectations, you start out early and work your way up in order to be successful."

But she's worried the slumping economy has undermined her chances of starting the career she wants.

One recent college graduate who's been hunting hard for seven months is Marilyn Williams, 41. Williams graduated from Western Washington University in December with a combined degree in accounting and economics and a 3.25 grade point average. She also has experience running her own business for 12 years.

"I have been job searching for over six months now and have had two interviews," she said.

Williams wants to stay in Bellingham where she owns a house but is facing the prospect of nearly minimum-wage work if she does.

"The next thing I have to do is to decide when I would start looking for jobs that would require me to move," she said.

"I don't want to do that. I love my home and have lived here for 14 years. It would kill me to move."